Windows Live ID Authentication for your Web Applications and SharePoint

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Microsoft had released Windows Live ID Web Authentication 1.0 SDK to enable a platform-neutral way of adding authentication to your application through Windows Live ID authentication service. It also makes it possible to add Windows Live controls in your application and comes with SDK containing documentation and code samples for implementation in various platforms like ASP.NET, Java, PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby programming languages etc.

Some of the published benefits:

The ability to use Windows Live gadgets and controls to incorporate authenticated Windows Live services into your site.
An HTTP-based, platform-neutral interface for implementing Windows Live ID authentication in your existing site, even if it is hosted by a third-party.
Freedom from the technical details of authentication! The Windows Live ID authentication service handles this for you.
A huge user base: any of the millions of users who have a Windows Live ID can become a user of your site.

"Web Authentication works by sending your users to the Windows Live ID sign-in page by means of a specially formatted link. The service then directs them back to your Web site along with a unique, site-specific identifier that you can use to manage personalized content, assign user rights, and perform other tasks for the authenticated user. Sign-in and account management are performed by Windows Live ID, so you don't have to worry about implementing these details."

Live ID authentication for ASP.NET applications

Dan Wahlin has a simplified implementation example to integrate Live ID authentication with your website in few minutes.

Official version of Membership Provider for ASP.NET to integrate with LIVE ID authentication has not yet been released by Microsoft, and work seem's to be underway to make it available soon.

However Peter Bromberg has experimented and has made available sample implementation to integrate it with your ASP.NET provider.

Live ID authentication for SharePoint 2007

An Authentication Provider for SharePoint 2007 has been developed by Keith Bunge, with ability to lock users and also "Authenticated Live Users" role.

This comes with it's .WSP solution that you can deploy on your farm, have your application registered with Windows Live and simply configure your Authentication Provider.

Update (Feb 10, 2008): Community Kit for SharePoint, on CodePlex, has it's release for Windows Live Authentication providers.

-- Sharad

Note: If you want to use Live ID authentication for your Windows Client, please see Windows Live ID Client 1.0 SDK

Will Microsoft charge a fee for using Windows Live ID authentication in Web sites?

Edwin - Monday, February 11, 2008 2:43:51 PM

Service if FREE today, and will likely remain so.

However, here is an extract from it's Terms of Use:
https://msm.live.com/app/tou.aspx

"We may choose in the future to charge for use of the service. If we choose to establish fees and payment terms for such use, Microsoft will provide at least one (1) month advance notice of such terms as provided in section 18 below, and you may elect to stop using the service rather than incurring fees."

eJugnoo - Saturday, February 16, 2008 7:31:33 AM

That's when you switch to OpenID

Holy Cow - Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:40:16 PM

Here is another good post on topic:
http://weblogs.asp.net/gunnarpeipman/archive/2009/02/12/sharepoint-and-windows-live-authentication.aspx

eJugnoo - Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:30:00 PM

Hi Sharad,

Can we get the User Name ( example@hotmail.com) who logs into the Web application. When user is Authenticated with window live id we are getting a ID from Live ID authentication but not the User information as we need to show the User name in right side corner as Welcome 'User Name'.

Nazeer Basha Shaik - Monday, March 9, 2009 7:08:57 AM

简单的很，你手工来修改这个文件就好了，具体格式可以去看开发文档，比如我的格式就如下：

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hrSMqyCGpq - Monday, May 27, 2013 12:36:27 PM

Live ID authentication for ASP.NET applications

Live ID authentication for SharePoint 2007

9 Comments